Golf club



March 24, 1925.

W. G. ESMOND GOLF CLUB Filed D66. 23 1922 INVENTOR. M'liz'am G Esmozzd.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 24, 1925.

UNITED STATES 1,530,486 PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM G. ESMOND, or s'rnATroaD, CONNECTICUT.

GOLF CLUB.

Application filed December 23, 1922. Serial No. 608,712.

To all whom it may concern:

7 Be it known that TVILLIAM G. EsMoNn, a citizen of the United States,and'resident of St'ratford, in the county of F airfield and State ofConnecticut, has invented certain new and useful Improvements in GolfClubs, of which the following is a specification,

This invention relates to a golf club, and V sand terference with theground or sand beneath the ball. A more specific object is to provide agolf club, designed to enter sand, or the like, during a stroke to liftan imbedded ball therefrom, the striking part of which consists of astriking face constructed to have, in effect, two locations of impactagainst a ball, one situated at a lower and more advanced position onthe ball than the other, and a heel the forward edge of which is adaptedto cooperate with the striking face in cutting-away sand adjacent theball and the rearward portion of which slants from the cutting-edgetoward the shaft of the golf club to offer no interference during thestroke with the surface of the ground or sand beneath the ball, thelower and advanced loca tion of impact of the striking face with theballbeing adapted to exert a lifting blow against the ball during a strokewhile the. other location of impact exerts a normal for ward drivingblow, whereby a resultant force'against the ball tendingtosimultaneously lift and drive the same will be obtained.

lVith the above and other objects in view, the invention comprises theconstruction, arrangement and combination of parts as now to bedescribed and claimed, but it is'to be understood that the disclosure ismerely illustrative of the principles of the invention, slight changesin details of construction being permissible so long as within the scopeof the appended claim. In the accompanying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a rear elevational view of the striking part of the improvedgolf club;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view looking dir ct y at t e tr g f ce; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line 33 in Fig. 1, suggesting the mannerin which the golf club functions.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 3,1'eference character A denotes theground or sand level, and B denotes a golf ball imbedded in the groundor sand.

The golf club of the invention consists of a shaft 10 and a driving partrepresented 11. The driving part is desirably of metal and the golf clubshown is for a left handed player, although the invention appliesequally well to a right handed club;

The body 12 of the driving part may be of any construction suitable forproperly disaccomplish the object forwhich the club has been designed.The striking face may have'the angle and configuration of an ordinarymashie-niblick fora considerable portion of its depth, denoted 13, orthe portion 13 may have a different angle and configuration, dependingupon the preference of the player. A part of said depth,however, de-

noted 14, disposed at the lower portion of the striking face, slantsforwardly from the portion 13 to be situated in advance of said ortion13 and at greater angle to the shaft of the golf club. Preferably, thefull length of the whole of the striking face constitutes a planevsurface.

The part of the width denoted 14 of the striking face constitutes, asdisclosed, a plane surface into which the plane surface of the portion13 of the width gently merges. The arrangement here may also suit thepreference of the player.

The forward edge 15 of the body 12 of the driving part is constructed tocooperate with the striking face in cutting-away sand adjacent and tothe rear of the ball, and to this end said forward edge may be of theconfiguration shown or of some other suitable configuration. The heel 16of the body 12 merges at its forward portion into the cut ting-edge 15,and the rearward portion of the heel slants from the cutting-edge towardthe shaft of the golf club to offer no interference during a stroke withthe surface" of h the ground or sand beneath the ball.

As will be most clear from Fig. 3, wherein I disclose the golf ball Bpartially imbedded in ground or sand having the level A, the dotted lineC denotes the cut in the ground or sand made by the cutting-edge andstriking face during a stroke. The lower ex:

posing-the weightfo-f the driving part to best 7 tremity of the portion13 of the striking face is shown in engagement with the ball slightlybelow the center thereof, the upper extremity of the part 14 of saidstriking face is shown in engagement with the ball at a lower, advancedposition, and the heel 16 is shown as having cleared the dotted line Cindicating the cut in the ground or sand defined by the cutting-edge 15.

Evidently, the location of impact of the portion 13 of the striking facewith the ball is adapted to exert a normal forward driving blow, and thelocation of impact of the part 14 is adapted to exert a lifting blowagainst the ball. Consequently, the relative arrangement of the portion13 and part 14: can determine the resultant force applied to the ballduring a stroke to simultaneously lift and drive the same. As disclosed,this resultant force is capable of driving the ball from the ground orsand at an angle of 45. Note the arrow in Fig. 3.

Actually, the location of merger of the portion 13 with the part 14 ofthe striking face may constitute a plane surface defining the locationof impact with the ball. Nevertheless, there will be in effect twolocations of impact against aball, imparting the resultant forcedetern'iined by the relative arrangement of the portion 13 and part 14.

It will be apparent that the golf club as illustrated and described willbe an effective sand spoon for lifting and driving a ball no matter towhat extent the ball is imbedded, so long as the ball is visible (asrequired by the rules of golf). Furthermore, it will be apparent thatthe novel golf club contemplates the employment of skill by the player,the lifting and driving of the ball by means of the improved strikingface requiring to be supplemented, to obtain the particular result atthe time desired, by wrist movements, etc., of the golfer. But with thepresent club wrist movements need not be abnormal.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A golf club driving part comprising a body defining a striking face anda heel slanting from the lower edge of said striking face toward theshaft of said golf club, the striking face including a portion set at anangle with respect to the shaft for normal forward driving of a ball anda part below said portion, in advance thereof, and set at greater angleto said shaft to exert a lifting blow against said ball. whereby aresultant force against the ball tending to simultaneously lift anddrive the same forwardly in normal manner will be obtained.

Signed at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield, and State ofConnecticut, this 22nd day of December, A. D. 1922.

WVILLIAM G. ESMOND.

